Bourses manage to keep their heads above water in early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks managed to keep their heads above water in early afternoon session, on the back of buying by funds and retail investors. Traders were taking support from the Commerce Department data enlightening that India’s global trade increased by 16.32% to $767.9 billion in 2017-18. In 2016-17, the trade stood at $660.2 billion. The data further highlighted that while India’s global trade grew by 16.32% between 2016-17 and 2017-18, India’s total trade with LAC (Latin American countries) grew by 19.63%. Besides, short-covering by speculators ahead of April F&O expiry and an appreciating rupee against the dollar too supported the market. However, gains were limited as anxiety spread among the investors with a private report stating that Reserve Bank of India is expected to hike key policy rates by 25 basis points in June, largely on account of sharp increase in crude oil prices over the last few months. In scrip specific development, Parag Milk Foods was up by around one and half percent on expanding its product offerings under the brand ‘Avvatar’ with the launch of ‘Avvatar Advanced Muscle Gainer’, a product specially designed to support lean muscle gain with controlled fat levels.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, following the lackluster cues overnight from Wall Street. The continued increase in US Treasury yields weighed on investor sentiment. Concerns that rising inflation may lead the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates faster than previously expected have recently pushed yields higher. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34542.88, up by 41.61 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 34505.62 and 34603.27. There were 12 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.23%, while Small cap index was up by 0.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.43%, FMCG up by 0.41%, Energy up by 0.36%, IT up by 0.35% and Auto up by 0.20%, while Telecom down by 2.42%, PSU down by 0.71%, Utilities down by 0.54%, Oil & Gas down by 0.49% and Power down by 0.47% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.36%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.35%, TCS up by 1.15%, Tata Motors up by 1.02% and Indusind Bank up by 0.96%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.06%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.33%, Axis Bank down by 1.36%, NTPC down by 0.99% and Tata Steel down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit growth of banks grew by 11.52 percent year-on-year to Rs 84,78,459 crore in the fortnight ended April 13, 2018. According to latest data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the advances had stood at Rs 76,01,970 crore in the same fortnight ended April 14, 2017. In the previous fortnight ended March 30, 2018, banks loan growth had grown at 10.32 percent to Rs 86,50,714 crore from Rs 78,41,466  crore in the period ended March 31, 2017.

As per the data, it indicated that in the period ended April 13, the bank deposits increased by 7.96 percent to Rs 113,77,729 crore from Rs 105,38,304 crore in the year-ago period. It also showed that in the fortnight ended March 30, the deposits had increased by 6.66 percent to Rs 1,14,74,989 crore from Rs 1,07,57,656 crore in the year-ago period.

The data further highlighted that in February 2018, non-food bank credit increased by 9.8 percent on a year-on-year basis as against an increase of 3.3 percent in February 2017. It noted that credit to agriculture and allied activities increased by 9 percent in February 2018, same as in February 2017.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10574.35, up by 3.80 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 10559.65 and 10596.10. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 1.36%, TCS up by 1.17%, Hindalco up by 1.16%, Indusind Bank up by 1.04% and Tata Motors up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 3.16%, Wipro down by 2.98%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.35%, HPCL down by 1.85% and Bajaj Finserv down by 1.70% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 426.37 points or 1.41% to 29,901.78, Jakarta Composite dipped 112.74 points or 1.85% to 5,967.11, Taiwan Weighted shed 71.39 points or 0.68% to 10,488.58 and Shanghai Composite was down by 44.37 points or 1.42% to 3,073.61.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.72 points or 0.31% to 1,857.65, KOSPI Index rose 26.83 points or 1.1% to 2,475.64 and Nikkei 225 added 104.29 points or 0.47% to 22,319.61.